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Witnesses: Girl who killed herself was different after molestation

Michael Peter Parfenuk

A counselor who met with a 14-year-old Effingham County girl testified Wednesday that she believed the girl was telling the truth about being frightened of the neighbor she had accused of molesting her.

The girl committed suicide eight months after the alleged attack.

Michael Peter Parfenuk, 61, is on trial for two counts of child molestation and two counts of sexual battery on a person under 16 in the case being tried in Effingham County Superior Court.

He’s accused of fondling the girl on Jan. 29, 2011. She killed herself with a rifle in her parents’ house in Rincon on Sept. 21, 2011.

Assistant District Attorney Ben Edwards said the six witnesses he called Wednesday, the first full day of the trial, were all he planned to call.

But he said he could not rest his case until he sees a video interview that WJCL did at lunchtime Wednesday with the defendant.

Edwards said the station was calling a lawyer about his request to see the video of the interview. He said if the station doesn’t produce the video voluntarily, he would secure a search warrant to seize it.

Edwards said without seeing the video, he doesn’t know if he’ll need to ask for a mistrial or if he might want to use the interview as evidence.

Teri Oglesbee of Southeast Counseling Center testified that she talked with the girl four times after she said she was molested. Oglesbee, who has been a counselor for more than 20 years, said she believed the girl was telling the truth.

“Body language happens more instinctually,” she said. “If you feel it, it shows. This was not an act. It was more of an instinctual reaction.”

The girl’s parents and grandmother testified that she was happy and friendly but turned moody and angry after the alleged molestation.

“She didn’t have any enemies,” said Cindy Howard. “She wanted to be friends with everyone.” She said her daughter mowed the yard for an older lady across the street, for free, just to be helpful.

The girl went to Parfenuk’s house frequently over about a nine-year period before the alleged molestation, hanging out with neighborhood kids there, doing crafts and playing games with the woman who lived at the house with Parfenuk, witnesses said.

The girl went to Parfenuk’s house that day to get him to help her fix a guitar string.

The state played the 911 tape when the girl called for help after the alleged molestation. She called from her cell phone as she was driving a golf cart back to her house, several houses away from Parfenuk’s house.

She called 911 before returning home or telling her parents what had happened.

The state also presented as evidence a letter the girl wrote the evening of the attack. In it, she said Parfenuk took her to his room and kissed and touched her.

Her mother said she had the girl write down her feelings in an effort to help her cope with what had happened. She didn’t read the letter until after her daughter committed suicide.

Her mother also read to the jury a suicide note left by the girl. In the brief note, she said she hated school and didn’t want her family to grieve for her. “This is for the best,” she said.

In his opening statement, defense Attorney Craig Bonnell asked jurors to reserve judgment and keep an open mind until they had heard the entire case.